Apparatus for forming belt loops on garments



1962 A. s. MINCHENBERG 3,051,102

APPARATUS FOR FORMING BELT LOOPS 0N GARMENTS Filed Aug. 5, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. F: LFRED S; MINCHENBERG 3" 1962 A. s. MINCHENBERG 3,051,102

APPARATUS FOR FORMING BELT LOOPS ON GARMENTS Filed Aug. 5, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. RLFRED S. MINCHENBERG 147727RNV 1962 A. s. MINCHENBERG 3,051,102

APPARATUS FOR FORMING BELT LOOPS ON GARMENTS Filed Aug. 5, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 I ll.

INVENTOR. FILFRED .S. MINCHENBERG ATZUAWZV Aug. 28, 1962 A. s. MINCHENBERG 3,051,102-

APPARATUS FOR FORMING BELT LOOPS ON GARMENTS Filed Aug. 5, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. FlLI-RED S. MINCHENBERG Army/15y Aug. 28, 1962 A. s. MINCHENBERG 3,

APPARATUS FOR FORMING BELT LOOPS ON GARMENTS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 5, 1960 VIA -' INVENTOR.

HLFRED .S. MINCHENBERG ATTZMW'EY United States Patent Ofitice 3,051,102 Patented Aug. 28, 1962 3,051,102 APPARATUS FGR FQRMENG BELT LOOPS N GARMENTS Alfred S. Minchenherg, 61 Railroad Sh, Winehendon, Mass. Filed Aug. 5, 196%, Ser. No. 54,557 3 Ciaims. Cl. 112-2) This invention relates to machines for forming belt loops on dresses and other garments and is an improvement over the apparatus disclosed in my patent Number 2,906,218.

Many dresses are made with belts or to be used with belts, which belts are kept in place about the waist portion of the dress or other garment by a plurality of belt loops extending in a vertical direction on the dress and spaced circumferentially of the garment. The belt loops are ordinarily merely thin lengths of threads, the ends of which are tied or otherwise fastened at the inner concealed side of the material of the dress with the loop projecting through vertically spaced openings in the material at the upper and lower ends of the waist portion.

Difficulty has been experienced heretofore in forming the loop resulting in a waste of time. Such waste obviously increases the labor costs involved in the making of a dress or other garment. It is extremely important, in commercial dress manufacturing operations, to keep the cost as low as possible since this is an extremely competitive field in which even minute savings in time and labor, without reduction of quality, can be very important.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a semi-automatic machine for forming belt loops on dresses or other garments which will reduce considerably the amount of time required in the formation of the loops, the engagement of the loops in the fabric and the tying of the loops. in this way, it is proposed to permit a single worker to form a greater number of belt loops over a predetermined period of time than has heretofore been possible through the use of apparatus already devised for aiding in the formation of belt loops.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of this character which will be eflicient in operation and will be relatively simple in design so as not to re, quire the services of a highly paid operator possessing unusual machine operating skill.

A further object is to provide a belt loop forming machine capable of operation by a worker seated comfortably at the front of the machine thus to reduce worker fatigue and maintain production at a high level.

Still another object is to so design the machine as to permit any of various types of power sources to be used in conjunction therewith.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a machine for form ing belt loops embodying one form of the invention show ing the parts in inoperative position, parts being shown broken away.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the machine.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the machine, parts being omitted.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the line 66 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of the front of the machine showing a garment in position thereon and showing one step in the formation of a belt loop.

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view through the center of FIG. 7 showing an advanced step in the formation of a belt loop.

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 7 showing in dot-dash and full lines further advanced steps in the formation of a belt loop.

FIG. 16 is an enlarged perspective detail view of the thread cutter device.

FIGS. ll, 12, 13 and 14 are enlarged diagrammatic detail views showing progressive steps in the formation of a belt loop on a garment.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a fragment of a garment removed from the machineshowing two belt loops formed preparatory to turning the garment inside out.

FIG. 16 is a similar view showing the garment turned inside out and the belt loops in final position on the garment.

FIG. 17 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the line 17-17 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 18 is an enlarged detail view of the. thread lifting device.

FIG. 19 is an enlarged bottom plan view of the foot actuated switch, parts being omitted.

FIG. 20 is a side elevational view of a machine for forming belt loops embodying a modified form of the invention.

FIG. 21 is an enlarged vertical sectional View taken on the line 2l21 of FIG. 20.

Referring in detail to the drawings, in FIG. 1 there is shown a machine 20 made in accordance with the present invention for forming belt loops on dresses and the like. The machine is shown supported on a table, stand T or the like and comprises a base constituted by a plate 22 of heavy metal stock bolted to the support by bolts or screws 23. Adjacent one end of the base plate, a solid metal block 24 rectangular in configuration and cross section is mounted on one end on the top surface of the base plate and is secured thereto by screws 26. A passage 28 extends through the block from side to side thereof as viewed in FIG. 3, adjacent the top end thereof. A cylindrical bearing 32 is mounted in passage 28.

At one end of the machine, the front end, there is an assembly for supporting the garment G on which the belt loop is to be formed, and for guiding said garment to its supported position. This assembly includes an upstanding transverse plate 36 fastened to the end of the base plate adjacent the block 24 by screws 38. Plate 36 slidably and adjustably supports another plate 40 in juxtaposition thereto and extending thereabove by means of bolts extending from the plate 4-0 through elongated slots 44 formed in the supporting plate 36. Flanged nuts 46 on the protruding ends of the bolts fasten the plate 40 in moved adjusted position on plate 36. A slot 50 is formed in plate 40 centrally thereof, extending from the top thereof to a point approximately midway the top and bottom thereof, One side surface of the plate 40, the inner surface as viewed in FIG. 3, is cut away as indicated at 52 from the top thereof to a point substantially even with the bottom end of the slot 50.

A thread cutting device 54 is supported on the plate and is disposed in the cut-away portion 52 This cutting device includes an elongated fiat rectangular-shaped bar 56 secured to the plate at one end thereof by a screw 58 and formed with a V-shaped notch 60 adjacent its other free end which end projects above the top of the plate 40 and the notch is disposed above the top of the plate. The bar 56 is cut away along one surface thereof and through 3 the top edge thereof as indicated at 62. A knife blade 64 is positioned in the cut-away portion 62 with its cutting edge disposed across the V-shaped notch and is fastened therein by the screw 53. The inner surface of plate 46* may be marked with lines 65 at 'both side edges thereof to indicate distances for adjusting the height of the plate above the plate 36.

- Another clamping plate 66 of thinner stock than plates 36 and 40 is resiliently mounted on the outer surface of the plate 40 and is loosely secured to the top end of plate 40 by means of headed pins 68 extending loosely through holes in the plate 40 adjacent each top corner thereof. The heads of the pins are slotted and are disposed on one side of the plate 66. Coil springs 72 are sleeved around the shanks of the pins that protrude on the other side of plate 4%), one end of the springs impinging against the inner surface of plate 4% and the other end thereof being in engagement with nuts 74 on the threaded ends of the pins 68. The springs tend to pull the plate 66 into engagement with the plate 44). Plate as is formed with an outwardly curved bottom end edge 76 to guide the fabric material or garment G thereunder and to permit the fingers of the operator to be inserted therebehind for manually pulling the plate 66 away from the plate 40 when necessary. An elongated slot 78 is formed in plate 66 in line with the slot 50 in plate 40. The slots in plates 40 and 66 are in line with the passage 28 in the block 24.

A needle assembly is supported reciprocably in the passage 28 in the block 24. This needle assembly includes a needle 80 carried at one end by a round rod 82 reciprocably in the passage 28 in the block. The needle is secured to the rod by a-setscrew 84 engaging one end thereof, the other end of the needle being formed with an eye 86.

A post is supported on a table or the like serving as a support for a spool of thread 96. Thread from the spool is threaded through the eye as of the needle St in the usual manner, leaving the thread with a free end 98 loosely dangling from the needle.

semiautomatic mechanism is provided for reciprocating the needle assembly and this mechanism is supported on the opposite end of the base plate 22 by an upstanding supporting plate 113i) secured at its bottom end to the end of the base plate by screws 1%. The top of plate 109 is bent inwardly forming a flange 104 extending over the base plate. A bracket 1% is fastened to the inner surface of the plate 1% by screws 1618 adjacent the top of the plate. One end of a link member 110 is pivotally connected to the bracket 1% by means of a pivot in 112. Another link member 114 has one end pivotally connected to, the other end of the link member 116 by means of a pivot pin 116, the other bifurcated end of link 114 being pivotally connected to the other end of the reciprocable rod 82 by a pivot pin whereby the rod is actuated. The linkage for moving the rod 32 is actuated by semi-automatic mechanism. This mechanism includes an electromagnet device 120 secured by brackets 122 to the top surface of the base plate 22 underneath the top flange 104 of the end supporting plate 1%.

The electromagnet device 120 comprises a coil 124 and a movable armature 126 extending upwardly from the center of the coil. The armature is formed with a head 128 at the top end thereof, the head being elongated and semispherical in cross section and formed with a slotted portion 130 in its top surface and with openings 132 in the sides thereof communicating with the central slot. A round rod 134 extends through the side openings and across the slot 130, the ends of the rod projecting on both sides of the head. A short lever 136 hasone end pivotally connected to the rod 134 and its other end pivotally connected to a pin 138 extending radially from the link member 110 adjacent its pivoted end 138. Re-- tractable coil springs 140 are disposed between the top flange 104 of the supporting plate 100 and the projecting ends of the rod 134 with one end of the springs fastened through holes 142 in the flange 10-4 and with the other end of the springs fastened through holes in the ends of the rod 134 so that the armature is automatically pulled upwardly when downward pressure thereupon is released. The electromagnet device 120 is energized by means of conductors 144 and 145 connected to terminals of the device housed in a casing 146 secured to the base plate at one side of the device. The conductors are connected to a plug 148 adapted to be plugged into socket of a source of electromotive force, such as a house supply.

A foot-actuated electric switch device 151) is interpose in the circuit including the electric magnetic device 1213 for controlling the energization of the magnetic device. This switch device 15% comprises a shallow rectangularshaped housing 152 and a similar shaped cover 154 therefor, the cover being pivotally connected to the housing at one end thereof by means of pivot pins 356 and normally spaced away from the other end of the housing by a coil spring 155 interposed between the housing and cover.

The housing 152 includes a flanged body with a base plate 1:19 having a removable section 162 secured to the flanged portion of the body by means of screws or the like. An electric switch 166 having an insulating casing and provided with a stationary contact 16% connected to a terminal 17%) and with a movable contact 171 is connected to a terminal 172. Terminal 179 is connected to conductor 4 and terminal 72 to conductor 146. A plunger 17% mounted on the inside of the pivoted cover 154 actuates the movable switch contact for closing the switch.

An elongated flat lever 175 is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on a pivot pin 176 on a bracket 178 extending laterally on the block 2 3. At one end, the lever is formed with a finger 17% extending perpendiculariy thereto, and at its other end is formed with a protruding angular finger adapted to lift the thread above the needle The lever is adapted to swing in a vertical plane about the axis defined by the pin 1%. A spring 1551 disposedaround the pivot pin 17% has one end in engagement with the lever 175 for normally pushing the front of the lever bearing tinge E36" downwardly as viewed in FEG. 4. A cam disk 182 is mounted on the pivot pin 115 joining the rod 82 and link 114 and normally rests upon the rear finger 17? holding the front finger end of the lever in upwardly tilted position as shown in FTG. 3. Wing nuts 177 secure the parts on the pin 115. When the needle assembly is slid forwardiy by the linkage, the cam disk rides oif of the rear finger 179 of the lever 175 and moves toward the front thereof thereby releasing the pressure on the lever so that the spring 133 forces the front of the lever downwardly. The cam is adjustabiy mounted so that its camming face may be moved toward or away from the lever In operation, the waist portion of the dress or the like garment G is folded once upon itself and the fold inserted upwardly between the clamping plate 66 and the plate :0 across the slots and '78 in the plates 4th and 66, respectively. The fold is clamped in this position by the plate 66 acted upon by the springs '72. The free end of the thread T on spool 96 is threaded through the eye 86 of the needle as and the free end of the thread is then draped over the finger Kid on lever 175. The operator presses down on the foot switch 15%} thereby closing the switch 166 and bringing the electric magnetic device 12 into circuit whereby said device is energized. When the magnetic device is energized, the armature 126 thereof is drawn downwardly carrying the head 123 thereof and the lever 13-5 downwardly. The armature 126 is disposed at a slight angle to. the vertical so that the head moves downwardly and siightly outwardly toward the rear end of the base plate 22 whereby the lever 136, which is disposed slightly at an angle to the vertical, is pulled downwardly and outwardly toward the rear end of the base plate against the action of spring 141 This movement of the lever 136 pulls the link 110 downwardly, the link swinging in an arcuate path anticlockwise as viewed in FIG. 3. The link Illl in turn pulls the links 1114 downwardly and at the same time pushes it toward the block 24. This forward movement is imparted to the rod 32 which slides horizontally through the passage 28 in the block 24 on the ball hearing assembly 3t), pushing the needle 89 before it, through the slot 59 in plate 4 through the folds of the garment G and through the slot 78 in the plate 66. The needle carries the thread with it outwardly of the plate 66 to the position shown in FlG. l2.

Due to the angular vertical arrangement of the lever 136 and armature 12%, the armature pulls the links 110 and 114 downwardly below the dead center thereof as shown in full lines in FIG. 4. As soon as the links pass the dead center, because of the length of the links and rod 82, the needle is pulled backwardly or jerked backwardly or to the right as viewed in MG. 4 to a slig t extent and due to the friction of the material of the I garment against the needle a slack portion is formed in the thread at the eye of the needle outwardly of the plate 66 as indicated at 142 in FIG. 11 upon the return movement of the needle. The slack 142 in the thread is then grasped by the fingers of the operator and the free end of the thread is pulled outwardly free of the folded material G as shown in FIG. 12. Simultaneously with the forward movement of the bar 82, with needle 80, the cam T82 is carried off of the rear finger 179 of the lever 175 whereby the spring 131 comes into action and tilts the lever 1'75 downwardly at the front and upwardly at the rear moving the front finger into position under the thread. Upon release of the foot pressure on the switch and deenergization of the magnetic device, the springs I l it retract and return the bar 82 moving the cam 132 over the rear fin er I79 of the lever 175 again, thereby moving the rear of the lever downwardly and the front linger res thereof upwardly carrying the thread upwardly along with it as shown in FIG. 13. The finger 189 grasps the thread at the side of the folded garment inside of plate 36 but outwardly of the eye of the needle. The raised portion of the thread has been designated I81 in FIG. 13 and is conveniently positioned to be grasped by the fingers of the other hand of the operator.

The loop i formed by draping the free end of the thread over a round angular rod 186 mounted on the top surface of the plate 49. The rod 186 is disposed parallel to but spaced from the top surface of the plate with one end bent and secured in a socketed opening 188 in the top surface of the plate by means of a setscrew 185. The spacing of the rod from the plate may be adjusted by moving the socket end thereof toward or away from the top of the plate 40. The thread is shown draped over the rod 186 in dot-dash lines in FIG. 10. The draped free end of the thread is then tied to the raised portion 181 of the thread and knotted as indicated at 192, thereby forming a loop 194 as shown in dot-dash lines in FIG. 9. The thread beyond but close to the knot is then placed against the knife 64 and pressure exerted thereupon whereby the loop is severed from the spool of thread. The garment with the loop 194 thereon is now moved horizontally, transversely of the garment supporting assembly in order to locate another portion of the garment in registration with the aligned slots in the plates and the operation is now repeated. Eventually, a plurality of the tied loops 194 shown in FIG. 15 will be produced and the garment will appear as in FIG. 16.

When all of the belt loops are formed, the folded portions of the garment G are swung away from each other or turned inside out so that the garment is now flat as in FIG. 16. When this is done, portions 196 of the loops, which portions previously extended between the folded garment portions as shown in FIG. 15, will now be exposed at the front of the garment. The knots will be 6 concealed in back of the garment as shown in FIG. 16. The portions 196 and the material of the garment provide the belt loops of the dress or other garment.

It will be seen that the device permits belt loops to be formed rapidly and easily thereby increasing to a considerable extent the productivity of the worker. At the same time, the machine is so designed as to reduce fatiguecausing factors to a minimum, providing still further production-increasing characteristics in the device.

It will be understood that an electric motor and clutch may be used in place of the electromagnetic device, or that a compressed-air or hydraulically powered arrangement might be used.

The modified form of machine 20' for forming belt loops, as shown in FIGS. 20 and 21, differs from the machine 26} of FIG. 1 merely in that manually actuated mechanism is added to the electric magnetic device for reciprocating the rod 82; and needle This mechanism includes a foot pedal constituted by a base plate 2&2 and a plate 204 hinged at one end to one end of the base plate as indicated at 206. The foot pedal is disposed below the base plate 22' of the machine. A chain 2% has one end fastened to the other end of the hinge plate .204 and passes upwardly through a hole 212 in the base plate 22/. The other end of the chain is fastened to an eye 214 formed on one end of an elongated connector member 216, the other end of the connector member being bifurcated as indicated at 218. A pin 22% having threaded ends extends across the space and is supported by the bifurcations 218 of the connector member. The overlapped adjacent ends of the links 11d and 114' are loosely connected to the pin 2210 and are separated by a washer 222. The pin is held in position by nuts 224 on the protruding ends thereof.

In all other respects, the machine 29 is similar to the machine 2i} and similar parts are indicated by similar reference numerals.

In using the machine 20', the foot of the operator is pressed downwardly against the hinge plate 24% of the foot pedal whereby the chain is pulled downwardly carrying the links and 114 therealong and pushing the rod 82 and needle 80 toward the fabric material, for forming the loop. When pressure on the hinge plate 204 is removed, the springs retract the parts including the chain and links to normal upward position as shown in FIG. 20.

While I have illustrated and described the preferrd embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise constructions herein disclosed and that various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

l. A machine for. forming belt loops of thread in a fabric work piece, comprising a support having a fiat supporting surface, a base plate secured to said supporting surface, a supporting block mounted on said base plate, needle carrying means mounted on the block and reciprocable axially to advance the needle carrying means for extending the needle through the work piece and to retract the needle carrying means for withdrawing the needle from the work piece, linkage means operatively connected to the needle carrying means to advance and retract the same, means for mounting a spool of thread on the base plate with a free end of the thread engaged in an eye of the needle, an upstanding slotted plate for supporting the work piece mounted on said base plate in the path of advancement of said needle, a cam carried by said linkage means, a bar pivotally mounted intermediate its forward and rear ends adjacent to said linkage means, said cam engaging the rear end of the bar and depressing the same while elevating the forward end of the bar to raise the free end of the thread when the Z needle carrying means is retracted, spring means connected to said bar to pivot the bar and lower the forward end while raising the rear end thereof when the needle carrying means is advanced and said cam is clear of the bar and drive means operatively connected to said linkage means to advance and retract the needle carrying means.

2. A machine for forming belt loops of thread in a fabric work piece, comprising a support having a flat supporting surface, a base plate secured to said supporting surface, a supporting block mounted on said base plate, needle carrying means mounted on the block and reciprocable axially to advance the needle carrying means for extending the needle through the work piece and to retract the needle carrying means for withdrawing the needle from the work piece, linkage means operatively connected to the needle carrying means to advance and retract the same, means for mounting a spool of thread on the base plate with a free end of the thread engaged in an eye of the needle, an upstanding slotted plate for supporting the work piece mounted on said base plate in the path of advancement of said needle, a cam carried by said linkage means, a bar pivotally mounted inter-mediate its forward and rear ends adjacent to said linkage means, said cam engaging the rear end of the bar and depressing the same while elevating the forward end of the bar to raise the free end of the thread when the needle carrying means is retracted, spring means connected to said bar to pivot the bar and lower the forward end while raising the rear end thereof when the needle carrying means is advanced and said cam is clear of the bar, electromechanical drive means mounted on the base plate and operatively connected to said linkage means to advance the needle carrying means, and further spring means operatively connected to said linkage means and drive means to retract the needle carrying means.

3. A machine for forming belt loops of thread in a fabric work piece, comprising a support having a flat supporting surface, a base plate secured to said supporting surface, a supporting block mounted on said base plate, needle carrying means mounted on the block and reciprocable axially to advance the needle carrying means for extending the needle through the work piece and to retract the needle carrying means for withdrawing the needle from the work piece, linkage means operatively connected to the needle carrying means to advance and retract the same, means for mounting a spool of thread on the base plate with a free end of the thread engaged in an eye of the needle, an upstanding slotted plate for supporting the work piece mounted on said base plate in the path of advancement of said needle, a cam carried by said linkage means, a bar pivotally mounted intermediate its forward and rear ends adjacent to said linkage means, said cam engaging the rear end of the bar and depressing the same While elevating the forward end of the bar to raise the free end of the thread when the needle carrying means is retracted, spring means connected to said bar to pivot the bar and lower the forward end while raising the rear end thereof when the needle carrying means is advanced and said cam is clear of the bar, electromechanical drive means mounted on the base plate and operatively connected to said linkage means to advance the needle carrying means, and further spring means operatively connected to said linkage means and drive means to retract the needle carrying means, a pedally operated switch, an external power source, and circuit means connecting said switch, power source and drive means, whereby said needle carrying means is advanced and retracted and said bar is pivoted wholly under pedal control of an operator of the machine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 438,427 Rehfuss et a1. Oct. 14, 1890 2,986,218 Minchenberg Sept. 29, 1959 2,911,928 Burke Nov. 10, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 758,981 Germany Ian. 5, 1953 

